Fantasy Football 2014: Top Players, PPR Draft Strategy and Mock Draft

Everybody plays fantasy a little differently. Some people swear by PPR, while others will never stray from standard-scoring leagues. Some people dip their toes into IDP leagues. Some love keepers and dynasty leagues.

In my main league, my seven friends and I play a standard-scoring keeper league and start two quarterbacks, two running backs, two wide receivers, two tight ends, a defense, a kicker and two RB/WR/TE flexes while carrying a bench of nine players. It's our little twist on a tried-and-true formula. 

However you play, we all need advice. So below, I'll try to offer a little bit for both standard-scoring traditionalists and PPR lovers, including my top 50 players in standard leagues but also an entire section on PPR strategy. 

See, we can all get along. 

Fantasy Rankings

Draft Slot	Player	Team	Position
1	LeSean McCoy	Philadelphia Eagles	RB
2	Adrian Peterson	Minnesota Vikings	RB
3	Jamaal Charles	Kansas City Chiefs	RB
4	Matt Forte	Chicago Bears	RB
5	Peyton Manning	Denver Broncos	QB
6	Marshawn Lynch	Seattle Seahawks	RB
7	Jimmy Graham	New Orleans Saints	TE
8	Calvin Johnson	Detroit Lions	WR
9	Eddie Lacy	Green Bay Packers	RB
10	Drew Brees	New Orleans Saints	QB
11	Aaron Rodgers	Green Bay Packers	QB
12	Arian Foster	Houston Texans	RB
13	A.J. Green	Cincinnati Bengals	WR
14	Demaryius Thomas	Denver Broncos	WR
15	Doug Martin	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	RB
16	Zac Stacy	St. Louis Rams	RB
17	Dez Bryant	Dallas Cowboys	WR
18	Brandon Marshall	Chicago Bears	WR
19	DeMarco Murray	Dallas Cowboys	RB
20	Alfred Morris	Washington	RB
21	Julio Jones	Atlanta Falcons	WR
22	Matt Stafford	Detroit Lions	QB
23	Cam Newton	Carolina Panthers	QB
24	Le'Veon Bell	Pittsburgh Steelers	RB
25	Jordy Nelson	Green Bay Packers	WR
26	Montee Ball	Denver Broncos	RB
27	Randall Cobb	Green Bay Packers	WR
28	Antonio Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers	WR
29	Julius Thomas	Denver Broncos	TE
30	Alshon Jeffery	Chicago Bears	WR
31	Andre Ellington	Arizona Cardinals	RB
32	Rob Gronkowski	New England Patriots	TE
33	Andre Johnson	Houston Texans	WR
34	Vincent Jackson	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	WR
35	Giovani Bernard	Cincinnati Bengals	RB
36	Victor Cruz	New York Giants	WR
37	Reggie Bush	Detroit Lions	RB
38	Andrew Luck	Indianapolis Colts	QB
39	Toby Gerhart	Jacksonville Jaguars	RB
40	Pierre Garcon	Washington	WR
41	Keenan Allen	San Diego Chargers	WR
42	Ryan Mathews	San Diego Chargers	RB
43	Vernon Davis	San Francisco 49ers	TE
44	Wes Welker	Denver Broncos	WR
45	C.J. Spiller	Buffalo Bills	RB
46	Frank Gore	San Francisco 49ers	RB
47	Larry Fitzgerald	Arizona Cardinals	WR
48	Ray Rice	Baltimore Ravens	RB
49	Rashad Jennings	New York Giants	RB
50	DeSean Jackson	Washington	WR

PPR Strategy

Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Generally speaking, you shouldn't dramatically change your draft strategy in a PPR league. While I'll outline certain players who should get a bump up your draft board in PPR leagues, the first thing to address is the one position that is less valuable in this format. 

The quarterbacks.

Because quarterback is the only offensive position that gains no value in PPR leagues, QBs logically account for a smaller proportion of the overall points scored. Thus, while they can still contribute big points for you on a weekly basis, it's less likely that a stud at the position is going to have anywhere near the impact he would in a standard-scoring league.

In other words, I wouldn't recommend selecting a quarterback with your first-round pick unless you are in a 12-man league or bigger, and even then you should only be going quarterback at the very end of the round. 

It is at the running back position that you see the biggest potential leap in value. While wide receivers take a leap as a positional group because of the added points from receptions, you don't see a ton of difference in value within the position since most top receivers nab a ton of passes. Last year, for instance, 22 receivers had 75 receptions or more. 

Yes, certain players tend toward being reception machines. More on them in a bit. But in general, your receiver rankings shouldn't be too much different.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

But at running back, players who make a living catching passes out of the backfield come at a premium. Jamaal Charles and Matt Forte should be the first two players off the board, for example (with Darren Sproles now in Philadelphia, LeSean McCoy drops to No. 3 overall in PPR leagues). Several running backs are far more valuable in PPR leagues.

Let's take a look at the players who have the greatest potential value increase, in no particular order, in this format:

• Running Back: Danny Woodhead, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Shane Vereen, Andre Ellington, Dexter McCluster, Giovani Bernard
• Wide Receiver: Julian Edelman, Wes Welker, Kendall Wright, Pierre Garcon, Andre Johnson, Antonio Brown, Brandon Marshall
• Tight End: Jason Witten, Jordan Cameron (especially if Josh Gordon is out for the year)

Of course, certain players see their values dip in PPR leagues, namely at running back. Alfred Morris is the biggest culprit here, but Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson, Ryan Mathews, Frank Gore and Zac Stacy all have to be devalued in the format (Eddie Lacy was hurt somewhat by a mediocre 35 receptions a year ago, but he'll be a much bigger part of the passing game this season).

If you want an example of how PPR can change a player's value in a surprising way, consider this tweet from Pro Football Focus:

In standard-scoring leagues, Lynch had 70 more points. In PPR leagues, Garcon had seven more points. Lynch still holds value because talented running backs are harder to come by in any format than solid receivers, but there's no question that players like Lynch should be selected later in PPR drafts than they would be in standard ones.

But other players will see a huge jump in value this year in PPR leagues. There's Ellington, for example, who according to Arizona Cardinals game analyst Ron Wolfley will be the team's own version of Charles. That should have PPR owners licking their lips (or doing something slightly less creepy).

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

And Sproles could actually see an uptick in usage in Philadelphia's uptempo offense. He seems excited about his role, telling Zach Berman of the The Philadelphia Inquirer, "The stuff we've been doing in practice, I think it's kind of dangerous."

One would guess the rest of the league will eventually, and begrudgingly, agree. Versatile players like Sproles live for the PPR format. Make sure you value them appropriately. 

Have fantasy questions? Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer them and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than a Mo'Ne Davis shutout (but not as impressive).